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(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia in June, was one of several suspected targets of Indonesian militants captured in police raids recently, an expert on militants said on Friday.

LONDON – Three former Cabinet ministers have been suspended from Britain's ruling Labour Party over allegations that they tried to trade access to government officials for cash, as the country's Parliament faces a new set of ethics scandals. Former defense secretary Geoff Hoon, former transport minister Stephen Byers, and ex-health secretary Patricia Hewitt have all been suspended from Britain's Parliamentary Labour Party, the party said in a statement late Monday night, only hours after a documentary caught them apparently boasting of their influence to a fictional U.S. lobbying firm. Byers was filmed by an undercover television documentary crew apparently offering...

.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says a homosexual activist who is attacked following a Christian minister's sermon about homosexuality would be protected by a proposed new federal law, but a minister attacked by a homosexual wouldn't be. The revelations come from Holder's recent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was taking comments on the so-called "hate crimes" proposal. It also was the subject of discussion on talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh's show today. "This is the question," Limbaugh said. "[Sen.] Jeff Sessions [R-Ala.] presents a hypothetical where a minister gives a sermon, quotes the Bible about homosexuality and is...

You Tube's Local Pstor is back at it. His newest clip had me laughing out loud at the song choice... Thanks to Morningstar madness we will soon see Todd and his new, young wife on a platform near you. ...

A group of young British Muslims are being named as advisers to ministers as part of a drive against extremism. The move comes as part of fresh plans to prevent radicalisation and address community concerns. The 22 Muslims aged 16-25 will hold regular meetings with key ministers and civil servants. Muslims called for a voice for youngsters in an official plan after the 2005 London suicide bombings which killed 52 people. The advisory group comes as the government is rethinking how to prevent violent extremism, a key element of counter-terrorism strategy. Officials have acknowledged more work needs to be done...

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have condemned sexual predators and are urging churches to flush out molesters using federal background checks. But a simple search on the convention's Web site shows they have yet to purge their own house of predators. SBC's MinisterSearch, a Web database for finding clergy members, contains the names of pastors both indicted and convicted of sexual abuse. Among them is a former Cordova pastor charged in October with rape and sexual battery. "It's a double standard," said David Brown, an abuse victim and coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in...

IRAQ AND ITS NEIGHBORS: A NEW APPROACH TAKES SHAPE by Amir Taheri Asharq Alawsat October 26, 2007 When Iraq's neighbours meet next week to discuss the situation there they will be confronted with a simple question: Is the fire that has been burning Iraq since 2003 growing or diminishing? This would be the second time this year that Iraq's neighbours, accompanied by the United States, Russia and the European Union meet with the avowed aim of coordinating policy on the war-stricken country. When the first meeting was held, Iraq seemed doomed to an uncertain future with no prospect of even...

Senior Iraqi cabinet members over a six-month period blocked investigations and prosecutions of corruption within their ministries valued at $35 million, using a Saddam Hussein-era law meant to shield officials from political abuses of the justice system, according to a recent memo by an official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reinstated the law, under which no governmental corruption case can be instituted against an Iraqi minister or former minister without the minister's permission. The ministers can, in turn, selectively immunize their subordinates, thus protecting them from being prosecuted for corruption. As a result, more than...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Finance chiefs from the G7 industrialized countries have endorsed nuclear energy, an increasingly attractive power source as governments confront global warming and over-dependence on fossil fuels. The Group of Seven, following a meeting here Friday, described energy diversification as an important priority for both rich and poor nations. "Diversification can include advanced energy technologies such as renewable, nuclear and clean coal," said the ministers and central bank governors from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. The group at previous meetings had been unable to agree on a text citing nuclear power, notably in...

BAGHDAD - Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has asked the prime minister to suspend two Cabinet ministers from his bloc because they backed a plan that likely will turn the oil-rich city of Kirkuk over to Kurdish control, a parliament member said Thursday. Saleh al-Aujaili, the Sadr bloc legislator, said the cleric had asked Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to hold the seats open for his block when he reshuffles his cabinet, a moved that has been promised for weeks. Health Minister Ali al-Shammari and Agriculture Minister Yarrub Nazim, both members of the Sadrist movement, were among Cabinet ministers who agreed...

Ministers compared to Nazis over Islam stigma By Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 1:33am GMT 17/12/2006 A senior Muslim invoked Hitler's 1930s Nazi regime while attacking the Government over its treatment of British Muslims. Mr Bari drew compared the Government's treatment of Muslims with the Nazis' persecution of Jews Muhammed Abdul Bari accused ministers of stigmatising Britain's Islamic community and fuelling xenophobia. Mr Bari, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, criticised the Government for "unfairly targeting" Muslims, and said that it was undermining their status as "equal citizens". He warned that blaming extremism on "a small, largely...

Ministers to ban creationist teaching aids in science lessons · Schools will be told not to use special pack · Intelligent design group asks for meeting The government is to write to schools telling them that controversial teaching materials promoting creationism should not be used in science lessons. The packs include DVDs and written materials promoting intelligent design, a creationist alternative to Darwinism, that were sent to every school in the country by the privately-funded group Truth in Science. Advocates of the theory argue that some features of the universe and nature are so complex that they must have been...

MUSLIM leaders have accused ministers of “stigmatising an entire community” and launching a “relentless barrage” against Islamic Britons.Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), has written to Ruth Kelly, the communities secretary, accusing her of pandering to an “Islamophobic” agenda. The letter follows Kelly’s announcement last week that the government was cutting funding and official ties with the MCB, which until now has been the main body representing British Muslims. One senior Muslim source said: “The government is pandering to a far-right neocon agenda which is promoting Islamophobia.” The MCB says in the letter: “In recent...

Families of soldiers killed in Iraq launch party to challenge ministers · More than 70 candidates to contest Labour seats· Bereaved to meet within two weeks to plan strategy Steve Boggan Saturday August 5, 2006 The Guardian (UK) Whenever news of British military deaths in the Middle East flashes on to their TV screen, Reg and Sally Keys become silent and you can see anxiety wash across their faces. This week has been particularly tough; three soldiers killed in Afghanistan, one in Iraq. Each time it happens, it reminds them of their son, Thomas, one of six royal military policemen...

Ministers warned of terrorism threat from Iran Press Association Thursday June 29, 2006 The intelligence agencies have warned ministers that Iran could launch terrorist attacks against British targets if the row over its controversial nuclear programme escalates, it was disclosed today. The parliamentary intelligence and security committee - which oversees the work of the agencies - said the possibility of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism was now considered one of the main threats facing the UK. "There is increasing international tension over Iran's nuclear programme and backing of groups such as Lebanese Hezbollah," the committee said in its annual report. "There is...

A minister embedded with some of the Marines who are alleged to have killed up to two dozen civilians in Haditha, Iraq, after one of their own died in a roadside explosion says he heard about the dead civilians but saw no distress among Iraqis or Marines in Haditha several weeks after the killings. "I knew he had been killed and there had been a response. I got the impression insurgents were killed and also some civilians got killed," the Rev. Christopher Price of suburban Atlanta recalled Friday of his conversations with Marines in Haditha in January. "As it was...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 8, 2006 – Discussions on the expansion of NATO's mission in Afghanistan and the continued development of the NATO Response Force topped the agenda at a defense ministers meeting here today. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (right) and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (seated across table) engage in discussions during defense ministerial meetings in Brussels, Belgium, June 7. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The defense leaders also discussed NATO support to training Iraqi forces and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. NATO forces in...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament on Thursday approved three new key ministers, including a Sunni Arab to head the defense ministry, ending a stalemate among Iraq's religious and ethnic groups over the crucial posts. The three, including ministers for national security and interior, were sworn in after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced the death of al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The new defense minister is Iraqi Army Gen. Abdul-Qader Mohammed Jassim al-Mifarji and Shiites Jawad al-Bolani for interior and Sherwan al-Waili for national security. The posts are considered crucial for al-Maliki's government to implement a plan allowing Iraqi...

With praying, singing and plenty of applause, about 400 people launched an effort yesterday at First AME Zion Church on the Near East Side to counter what they see as divisiveness created by religious conservatives. The clergy-led group, We Believe, says it will encourage voter turnout and try to give the less fortunate a voice in politics. Its members say they will work to shape public policy but will adhere to Internal Revenue Service rules barring religious groups from supporting candidates or political parties. The Rev. Timothy Ahrens, senior minister at First Congregational Church Downtown and a founder of We...

Rights group attacks Iran's 'ministers of murder' By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor (Filed: 15/12/2005) Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has packed his government with former security and intelligence officials responsible for serious human rights abuses, including the killing of thousands of dissidents in Iranian jails, a leading human rights group said yesterday. After Mr Ahmadinejad caused renewed international outrage by calling the Nazi Holocaust of Jews a "myth", a report by Human Rights Watch, based in New York, took aim at his hardline cabinet - in particular the new interior minister, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has renewed his attack...